Slow Acceptance
by sassyjeremy
Summary: Jeremy tries to deal with the fact that Elena is dead after seeing Alaric's ghost. [Set during 3x22]


"Oh, my God, you're a ghost…" The words that left Jeremy's lips were thick with worry. Ric was standing before him, as a ghost. Something that he never thought he'd see—or, not see for at least a few more years. Then, it hit him. And as soon as it did, he felt his stomach twist and a pang of horror ran through his heart, making his blood turn as icy cold as a white winter's morning. "But, if you're dead… that means…" A tear or two were springing to his eyes, and he could hardly even think, his mind was in that much of a blur.

_"Elena."_

Sucking in a sharp breath, he turned on his heels and grabbed his coat from the hanger, his house keys from the bowl that sat on the table by the front door, and he ran, ran out of the door as fast as he could. There was no way that what he thought was happening was actually happening. Elena was fine, she was going to be fine. She had to be. Stefan and Damon, one of them would've saved her, most likely the younger Salvatore. Or Matt! Matt would've saved her. He knew that Matt Donovan was still in love with his older sister, even though their relationship had ended. Just like Jeremy was still in love with Anna, and still in love with Bonnie. To a degree, he still loved Vicki. Jeremy's heart was conflicted when it came to that emotion, but one emotion was overpowering him and gripping him like a deadly vice; fear.

Fear was running through every fiber of his body, and he couldn't shake it. There was no way he could shake it. Mainly because he didn't want to accept the fact that his sister was d—no, he couldn't even think like that. She was going to be fine. She _had to be._She was _always _fine. There was always some kind of escape route for them. Be it the ring on Jeremy's finger, or the spell that John asked Bonnie to perform on him and Elena. Before he knew it, they were going to be back to normal. Elena was going to come home, Jeremy was going to hold her and whisper his 'I was so worried's, and everything was going to be fine.

It took him a good few hours of denial and aimless wandering before it finally started to settle in. This crushing fear that he was feeling was turning to despair. Alaric promised him that he would never be alone. A _ghost _promised him that he would never be alone. As comforting as that was, he couldn't help but let the frustrated tears that'd been building up in his eyes finally spill over as he finally fell. He was somewhere in the forest. Where? He didn't know, nor did he care.

With his back pressed against one of the many tall trees that Mystic had to offer, he slowly pulled his knees up to his chest and let his forehead rest against them. Never had Jeremy suffered such loss. His life over the course of the year had been nothing but a file of lost lives. His mom, dad, Vicki, Anna, Jenna, John. Those were bad enough. But now Alaric and… Elena? After hours of denial, he'd slowly started to realise that Elena wasn't going to be okay. She wasn't going to be coming home in the morning, and telling Jeremy that things were going to be alright. And if she did, she'd be in the form of a ghost. The one thing Jeremy's wanted, right from the very start, long before vampires, werewolves, and hybrids, was her safety. And he'd failed in that task, he'd failed in keeping her safe. And that's what hurt the most. The fact that she was dead, because of him. If he and Matt hadn't come up with that hare-brained scheme, she'd still be alive.

His family was dead. Jeremy's whole family, adoptive and biological, was dead. He was alone. Something he'd felt for a while, but had actually come into a horrible, crippling reality.

* * *

**A/N: This was actually a para I wrote for an RP I auditioned for under an alias. Robert's actually my brother's name. If you're from that RP and think that I actually ripped this off, then I'm sorry but you're sadly mistaken~~~~**

**P.S. It's shorter than most of my other work because, like I said, it's for an RP I auditioned for and eventually left because it felt like nothing but a giant clique. **


End file.
